At last, the webOS-empowered TouchPad, HP's answer to the growing tablet market. And make no mistake, it's coming in with guns blazing -- specs-wise, the slate stands up pretty well to the competition currently in play (e.g. iPad) and the other up-and-comers not quite out the gate (e.g. Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry PlayBook). Stacked side-by-side, it's clear Apple's entry is lacking a bit in both memory (256MB vs. 1GB for everyone else) and front-facing camera -- not that we expect that to be the case for all of 2011. When it all comes down to it, what'll set these slates apart will be the platforms and software themselves -- should make for an interesting summer, no? In the meantime, for the nitty-gritty on technical specifications, venture past the break.

HP
TouchPad
 Apple
iPad
 Motorola
Xoom
 BlackBerry PlayBook
Platform webOS 3.0 iOS 4.2.1 Android 3.0 BB Tablet OS (QNX)
Processor 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon
dual-CPU APQ8060		 1GHz Apple A4, PowerVR SGX 535 GPU 1GHz NVIDIA
Tegra 2		 1GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core
Display 9.7-inch 9.7-inch
LED-backlit
IPS LCD		 10.1-inch 7-inch LCD
Resolution 1024 x 768 1024 x 768 1280 x 800 1024 x 600
Memory 1GB RAM 256MB DRAM 1GB DDR2 RAM 1GB RAM
Storage 16GB / 32GB 16GB / 32GB / 64GB 32GB 16GB / 32GB / 64GB
Front camera 1.3 megapixel none 2 megapixel 3 megapixel
Rear camera none none 5 megapixel with
4x digital zoom, AF, dual-LED flash,
720p 30fps video		 5 megapixel,
720p video
Cellular radio "3G and 4G variants" UMTS / HSDPA /
GSM / EDGE		 EVDO Rev. A 3G and 4G
WiFi 802.11b/g/n 802.11a/b/g/n 802.11b/g/n 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR 2.1 + EDR 2.1 + EDR 2.1 + EDR
Gyroscope Yes No Yes --
Accelerometer Yes 3-axis 3-axis Yes
Battery capacity 6,300 mAh 6,600 mAH (approx.) -- 5,300 mAH
Weight 740g 680g (WiFI),
730g (WiFi + 3G)		 730g 400g